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Stanley Milgram Experiment Essay

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Last class we spoke about The Stanley Milgam Experiments, The Stanford Prison Experiments and The Asch Conformity Experiments. We discussed authority and what that does to people in vulnerable or difficult scenarios. This class forced me to question how I’ve been throughout my life during traumatic events and how I’ll act in the future, should these situations arise.

In the Milgram experiment there was a 'teacher' assigned and a 'student' assigned. The 'teacher' cannot see their 'student' but can hear them. For every wrong answer the 'student' gives, the 'teacher' has to shock them. The student is a part of the test, so he is not actually being hurt, but the teacher thinks he is. Over time, as the shocks get stronger and stronger, the student screams, yells, begs for the shocks to stop and then goes quiet. The purpose of the experiment was to focus on the …show more content…

When have I allowed bad things to happen, because there were peer groups watching as well? Would I be the one to step up and vocalize the injustice? Would I stay silent, as there were others to be held accountable? Kitty’s death will forever haunt me- I can’t imagine how her neighbors felt, year after year knowing she may be alive if they were to have called 911.

Lastly, we spoke on The Stanford Mock Prison of 1971. Stanford University students were tested for mental strength- and the healthiest of them were chosen to participate. Half became mock prison guards, half became mock prisoners. They gave the guards a badge, crowbar, cuffs, etc. and allowed them to make the false arrests, giving them a sense of power. The prisoners were given numbers, not called by their names, wore prison clothes, etc.

On the first night prisoners rebelled, laughed and disrespected the guards. But, over time, they fell in line to their positions. They were strip-searched, punished with solitary confinement and many of them ended up having to leave due to mental

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